


The Red Dragon

by sehunagenda



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Chanyeol is annoying but lovable, Detective Jongin, Detectives, M/M, Mentioned Physical Abuse, Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Organized Crime, Past Infidelity, Past Possessive Relationship, Past physical abuse, minor description of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:46:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23031928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sehunagenda/pseuds/sehunagenda
Summary: In Detective Kim Jongin's new murder case, everything points out to Sehun, the lover of the victim. But even if he is clearly hiding something, the case is more complicated that it seems, and Jongin is resolved to crack it.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Comments: 14
Kudos: 131
Collections: PROJECT 94 Round 2





	The Red Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Project 94 Fest, prompt #R2073 
> 
> Author's note: Thank you mods for the fest! Gosh, I really love sekai, so this was perfect~ To the prompter, I hope you liked it, I tried my best even if it's not as long as it should be! To the readers, I hope you enjoy it~~ And to Sally, my beta for this fic, I love you girl, you saved my life

Jongin had been inside an interrogation room for the last four hours, until he got that fucker to confess. It shouldn’t have been this hard, but a certain fellow detective had lost an essential piece of evidence, and the criminal knew somehow that without his confession they wouldn’t get far. In the end, Jongin had made it, even if it had been a nightmare.

“Detective Kim!” Sergeant Kim Minseok called him the moment Jongin stepped into the precinct again. “Come here, I have a case for you”

Of course they couldn’t let him enjoy a moment of peace, even if Jongin was actually glad for it. Minseok knew it, him giving Jongin another case almost immediately was a normal occurrence for them. “Alright, Sarge” he said once he reached Minseok’s desk. “What do you have?”

“The uniformed officers arrived the house half an hour ago” Minseok explained, showing him a collection of pics the officers had taken “A body was found, a phone call to the police made by the maid when she arrived an hour ago to the house. It appears the owner is dead, we still don’t know the cause”

Jongin whistled looking at the photos. “The owner was filthy rich, uh?” he mumbled “Do we have any lead?”

Minseok shook his head, pressing his lips in a thin line. “Nothing. It could be a natural death, or even suicide, for all we know”

“But you think it’s not” Jongin supplied “My gut is also telling me there’s someone else involved”

“Exactly. I would like if you and your partner went and took a look. I trust you with this, Jongin”

Jongin nodded, receiving a last pat in the back from Minseok, before heading to his companion, who was in his own desk filling paperwork.

“Park” he said, hitting his arm “We got a case”

“Another one?” Detective Park Chanyeol’s head went up like an excited puppy “Great! I thought we’d only have paperwork left for today”

“Yeah, I’m glad something came up. Let’s go, uniformed officers are already there, it may be a murder scene. We don’t know yet for sure”

“Dope, I love murders” Chanyeol said a little too loud and cheery, wincing when he caught himself “That was a weird thing to say”

“It was” Jongin agreed, smiling at his partner’s antics “But you are right. They are the most interesting cases to work with.”

They took the car, Chanyeol excitedly putting his new mixtape while saying “Yes, Jongin, you have to listen to it”, “No, it’s not like last time. It has two new songs” and “Yes Jongin, the rest are the same, I don’t have enough time for a completely new mixtape”. The mixtape wasn’t so bad, even if it was clear that Chanyeol was a completely amateur. Still, he could be good if he had a proper equipment, or time to focus on his hobby. Perhaps for Christmas Jongin could gift him something…

Before Jongin’s thoughts could dwell on the matter, they arrived to the location. It was a big fancy house, with a garden of their own – Jongin hadn’t seen one of those in years – three floors, three police cars parked in front at the moment. There were a few neighbours talking to a couple of the officers, while the rest watched from the security of their homes.

The inside of the house screamed “rich people”, with design furniture, expensive-looking decoration… was that a golden faucet in the kitchen?

“Okay, where is the body?” Jongin asked to the closest officer. She guided him towards the living room. The man was lying on the couch, a mug of something – coffee? – dropped on the floor, he liquid wetting the carpet. He was wearing some kind of robe, like he had just woken up when he died.

“The TV was on when the maid arrived” the same officer told him “She called us at 11:03, screaming and weeping, saying he was dead. We didn’t question her more, she was too shaken”

“Were is she?” Jongin asked, looking around. Chanyeol was talking to the forensic doctor who had just arrived.

“In the back garden” the officer informed him “She is with one of us, if you want to go talk to her”

Jongin nodded, thanking the officer and heading towards Chanyeol and the forensic doctor. “Detective Park, I’m going to talk to the woman who found the body. Tell me if you find anything of interest here”

“Of course, Kim” the doctor, Byun Baekhyun, said with a bright smile. “We’ll tell you right away, go do your job, don’t be too scary”

“I’m not scary” Jongin mumbled, being ignored by the other two. He rolled his eyes, deciding to follow Baekhyun’s advice and go do his job.

The maid was still shocked about everything – as it was expected. Even so, she gave Jongin some information that could be useful if they decided it was a murder case.

1\. The maid was supposed to arrive at 11 sharp every day, when there was no one else in the house.  
2\. Usually the owner, named Luhan, left the house at 10, going to work to the conglomerate he was the heir of.  
3\. Sometimes Luhan left the house late, so they had crossed paths every now and then.  
4\. He shared his apartment with someone else. The maid hadn’t seen them in person, but knew there were two people living there. It was evident, she said.  
5\. She suspected the other person to be another man.  
6\. She was completely sure that they were lovers.

Even if Jongin had asked her how could she be so sure of that, it was probably that it was the case. Why would a rich man, heir of a big conglomerate, live with a friend? Everything was possible, of course… Still, the maid was sure that they were not friends, she swore she had seen enough, they were lovers.

Writing down all the information she had given him, Jongin joined his partner, who still was besides the body with Baekhyun. “Something useful?” he asked, hopingly.

“I suspect foul play” the doctor said, still examining the body “Hour of the death should be 9:30, and the tightness of the throat indicates some kind of poison.”

“Could it be in the coffee?” Jongin asked, looking at the dropped mug. Chanyeol nodded.

“That’s what we thought. Baekhyun is taking a sample back to the laboratory to analyse it”

“We should have a confirmation by tomorrow” Baekhyun added, getting up “We’ll have the complete autopsy done by then as well”

“Thank you” Jongin said “You can take the body; we still have some work to do here”

After Baekhyun and his team left, Jongin headed to the man’s room. The maid said that it was the only room she wasn’t allowed in, so it could have evidence of his alleged lover.

“He didn’t live alone” Jongin informed Chanyeol, while rummaging through the desk “The maid said another person, probably a man, lived with him”

“His boyfriend?” Chanyeol asked, opening a laptop that was at the desk, obviously blocked. Jongin saw him enter a random password, failing. He closed it. “What are you thinking, Jongin?”

“This man… He is filthy rich, right? He lives with someone, probably a boyfriend. I don’t think their relationship is too public, or the maid would know. She seemed to like gossip, even if she only had suspicions. If they were public, she would know.”

“And? What else?”

“Luhan, that’s the man, the left this house the last one in the mornings. The maid was supposed to come after Luhan left the house, so this person, his… partner, they left early everyday”

“Oh, do you think…”

“I mean, my partner leaves before me, so they prepare some coffee, every day. Every morning, they prepare coffee for themselves, and for me. So, today I got up, like usual, reheat the coffee my partner has left me, and I drink it without a worry. But, the coffee has poison in it.”

“Yes, I completely agree. Looks like this boyfriend or whatever is our main suspect.”

Jongin sighed. It was a possibility. “I mean, it could’ve been the maid as well. She had keys to the house. We should check her alibi as well”

“We have the victim’s phone, by the way. It’s unblocked by his fingerprint, his boyfriend’s number should be in it, right?”

Jongin nodded. “Perfect. You keep checking this room, there could be something else here. I’ll go for the phone”

More officers were roaming around the house, taking photos of everything. The mug containing the coffee, possibly with poison, was long gone. Jongin tapped one of the officers on the shoulder, asking for the phone of the victim which was promptly given to him with a pair of gloves to not contaminate the evidence.

They had changed the settings so it didn’t need Luhan’s fingerprint anymore to unblock it, just swiping right worked. The phone looked professional, without a personal lockscreen nor homescreen. Jongin went to his last calls, hoping to find some call from his partner, scrolling through the phone. All the names were saved in a too professional way to be someone close to him, so Jongin changed the tactic, searching any instant messaging app that could give him more info.

There, Jongin found something interesting. One chat with someone nicknamed “Honey”, the last conversation being the day before, at eight in the afternoon, when Luhan had messaged him with a “I’ll go home late tonight honey, I’m sorry” which was left on read, unanswered. It had to be him.

There was no number attached to the name in the chat, perhaps for security reasons, so there was only one thing left to do: Jongin started typing. He wrote a “Hello?”, blocking the phone after that. If the other was working, it was unlikely that they would answer soon. He was proven wrong, thought, when the phone made the sound of a notification, a message from this “honey” saying “I’m still angry, what do you want?”

If they were the murderer, at least they were somewhat smart, answering as if nothing had happened instead of just ignoring it, knowing that Luhan was dead. Of course, there was the possibility that they weren’t the murderer, which meant they were about to have an unpleasant surprise.

“Hello, this is Detective Kim. Unfortunately, I cannot call you, as there’s no number attached to your name. Could you give me a call to the number I’m giving you?” he texted, attaching his own work number after that. He hoped that the person behind the chat would trust him enough to call him.

Not even a few seconds after the text was sent, his phone ringed, signalling that someone – the chat person, probably – was calling him. Jongin took the call, getting ready to give the news to whoever this was.

“Hello? This is Detective Kim” he answered, taking his notes block out, in case he had to write something.

“What is going on?” So, he was indeed a man, as the maid has suspected. He seemed agitated, worried. “Why do you have Luhan’s phone?”

“Are you working?” Jongin asked, ignoring the question for now “May I have your name?”

“I- Yes, I’m working. My name is Oh Sehun. Could you tell me what happened, detective?” the man – Sehun – begged him. Jongin sighed, tapping his pen against the block.

“You are the… flatmate of Luhan, right?” Jongin asked.

“Uh, yeah, I am. We live together”

“Could you come to the house right now? I can speak with your boss if it’s necessary as this is an important official issue”

“No, no” Sehun quickly answered “I should be able to leave right now. They owe me anyway, for all the days I worked overtime. I’ll be there in twenty, does that work?”

“That works perfectly, mister Oh. I’ll be waiting”

Jongin hanged up after that. He had now not only Sehun’s name he had his phone as well. Even if he had lied with the name, the number was still real, could be traced if anything went wrong, which Jongin hoped won’t happen. Even if Sehun was the killer, he was clearly playing the “pretending to not know anything” card, which meant that hopefully he wouldn’t flee. It would make Jongin’s work easier.

He was going to find out in barely twenty minutes, if Sehun was going to play the game or just run away. Jongin decided to check the phone’s gallery meanwhile. The first thing Jongin noticed was that the phone was filled with photos of food and coffee, and selfies, but those photos weren’t important. He had a lot of photos with other man, and Jongin could presuppose he was Sehun. He was tall, had a serious looking face, strong eyebrows and was, overall, really handsome.

They had selfies together, there were photos with just Sehun as well, and in most of them, the other man was holding a small and fluffy white dog. But, there wasn’t a dog in the house, right? Jongin kept that information, could be useful for later.

“Detective Kim” a voice called, one of the officers “There’s a man here looking for you, Oh Sehun. He says he lives here”

So, he had come, that was nice. Jongin left the phone carefully and took off the gloves before going to meet Sehun at the door.

The man before him was even more handsome than he looked in the photos, but instead of the serious expression, he was clearly distressed, trying to get pass a couple of the officers.

“-and if you don’t let me in I’m going to fill a complain, this is my house, you can’t-“

“Mister Oh?” Jongin interrupted. Sehun looked at him, furrowing his brows. He was a couple of centimetres taller than Jongin, and had broader shoulders, Jongin noticed. “I’m Detective Kim, we spoke on the phone”

“What is going on?” the man asked, his voice trembling. If he was the murderer, his acting skills were on point.

Jongin looked at the inside of the house, the body still there, and decided to go outside himself. The investigation was already on, and with the few leads they had, Sehun was the prime suspect, so Jongin said “You can’t go inside right now, I’m sorry, but I’ll explain everything to you, let me buy you a coffee, Mister Oh. Sehun, can I call you Sehun?”

Sehun hesitated, looking at the house again, then sighed. “Yes, Sehun is my name after all. There’s a café in the next corner, we can go there”

They went to said café, both of them silent except for ordering – Jongin ordered a latte, Sehun a hot chocolate, probably too nervous to drink something caffeinated.

“What happened?” Sehun asked again once they were seated and with their drinks in front of them.

“May I ask you what your relationship with Luhan was?” Jongin asked instead. Sehun closed his eyes for a second, then looked away.

“What do you think?” he snapped, clearly trying to appear tough, but with a slightly tremblor in his voice.

“You were lovers” Jongin affirmed, trying to sound neutral about it. He needed Sehun to understand he wasn’t going to judge them for that. Jongin himself wasn’t exactly hetero, so he wouldn’t discriminate them for their sexual orientation.

“Any problem with that?” Sehun said, glancing a Jongin but without keeping his gaze on him.

“Of course not” Jongin answered, softening his tone. “You were living together, right?”

Sehun exhaled the air he was holding, clearly relaxing at Jongin’s words. “Yes. We… We’ve been together for several years already”

Jongin didn’t miss the present used when talking about Luhan. Again, if he was the murderer, he knew how to act. There was always the chance that Sehun was innocent, of course. Jongin felt sorry for the man if he was.

“Your boyfriend has been found dead this morning, Sehun” Jongin said, watching carefully his reaction. Sehun just stared at him, then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening them. They were a little watery, but Sehun blinked until it was gone while Jongin kept silent.

“How?” Sehun asked. His voice trembled a little but nothing more.

“You don’t seem much affected” Jongin said, waiting again to see his reaction. Sehun just laughed, bitterly.

“I had hope, but I’m not dumb, Detective. Please tell me what has happened, I deserve to know”

Jongin thought carefully about what information he should release, knowing that his superiors trusted completely his methods. “He was found dead.” He said “We don’t know the cause yet, but it could be a natural death. There was no sign of violence, but we’d need your confirmation that nothing is missing, so we can rule the possibility of a robbery out.”

Sehun nodded, pressing his lips in a thin line. He looked hesitant for a moment, like he was going to add something, but no words came out his mouth. He just sipped his chocolate, Jongin doing the same with his coffee. He talked at last. “Will you keep me updated?” he asked, looking at Jongin in the eyes.

Jongin nodded. “We will need your collaboration, anyway” he said “I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t leave the city while the investigation is on”

“But you suspect natural causes, didn’t you say that?” Sehun asked. Fishy.

“I said it could be. We don’t know yet, so the investigation is open” Jongin said, arching an eyebrow “We aren’t sure”

Sehun hummed, nodding, and then looked at Jongin. He looked a little absent, probably due the fact that his boyfriend was dead. Or maybe because he was thinking how to convince Jongin that he was innocent, the Detective wasn’t sure.

“We should go back” Jongin said, their drinks empty. They had texted him, the body wasn’t there anymore. The place was still sealed but they had to come back so Sehun could tell them if something was missing.

There were still a couple officers in the house, and Chanyeol was still there, waiting for Jongin. Chanyeol looked at Sehun, sharing a look with Jongin, probably guessing who the other man was.

“Could you take a look?” Jongin asked “Tell me if you think something is missing”

Sehun nodded and started looking, searching. Jongin followed him through the living room, the room he shared with Luhan, the office… They ended up in the living room again, Sehun looking frustrated.

“There’s nothing missing” he said, biting his lower lip. He looked kind of cute, with that troubled look in his face. Jongin had the feeling that he was hiding something, but he could have said something was robbed to confuse them, and he hadn’t done it. It was confusing. Jongin was sure that Sehun was hiding something, and he always trusted his instinct, but Sehun wasn’t behaving like he should for a murderer. So, what was the truth?

“Thank you for collaboration” Jongin said, just as Chanyeol was approaching him. “I have your number so, I will call you if we need your help. And if you think of anything that could be of use, you have my number”

Sehun nodded, suddenly looking a lot more tired than before. “Thank you, detective.”

He looked so vulnerable that Jongin couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, even if part of him still suspected Sehun to be the murderer. “Do you have a place to stay in?”

Sehun looked up suddenly, surprised by the question. “Yes, I think. I have a friend, I will ask him. If not, I have money. Well, Luhan has money. Had…” He closed his mouth, his eyes hardening. “Don’t worry about me, I will be okay. I should leave now, I need to be alone”

“Of course. Take care, Sehun”

Sehun gave him a short nod before leaving the house. Chanyeol whistled the moment their suspect had left. “So, this is the lover?”

“Yes. His name is Oh Sehun, and he is one of the most confusing persons I’ve met”

“Wow, that’s a lot coming from you” Chanyeol said, surprised. “What do you think, did he do it?”

“That’s the thing” Jongin answered. They were leaving the house already, taking Jongin’s car to the police station “I can’t say for sure. He is hiding something, that’s for sure, but I don’t know. It may be related to the murder, but he is not acting like he had murdered the victim. Am I making sense? I think he is hiding something, maybe they were hiding something together, probably something that could be of use but… I don’t know if he is the murderer”

“You are babbling” Chanyeol noted, smiling a little “I don’t usually hear you babble, it’s a nice change”

“Shut up” Jongin protested, hitting his arm “It’s confusing, I think this case won’t be a clear one, but I hope we can solve it soon”

Chanyeol stayed silent for a second, a grin slowly forming on his face “Well, I hope he isn’t the murderer”

“Why?” Jongin was confused, what the fuck was his partner saying?

“He was pretty, right? You found him pretty” Chanyeol answered, still grinning. Jongin rolled his eyes.

“Please don’t try to set me up with a suspect”

“That’s why I’m saying that I hope he isn’t the murderer, then he won’t be a suspect” Chanyeol insisted. “Jongin, it’s been three years since you and Kyungsoo broke up, and you haven’t had a date since then”

“And not for your lack of trying” Jongin scoffed “Seriously, Chanyeol, I don’t need a date, and less with a suspect”

Chanyeol pouted “I’m just worried about you. You work too much and-“

“Chanyeol” Jongin interrupted him. They had arrived already, the car parked. “Thank you for worrying, but it’s okay. You don’t have to push me towards every man that shows a minimal interest in men.”

“Alright” Chanyeol said, still pouting.

“Let’s get to work, I’ll let you worry about my romantic life after this case is solved” Jongin joked, making Chanyeol scoff.

“How it went?” Minseok asked, interested, once they were there. Jongin must have been wearing his ‘I’m going to work on a case’ face.

“Poison, I’m sure you already know” Jongin said. The Sargent nodded, waiting for Jongin to continue “We have a suspect. The lover of the victim”

“But?” Of course Minseok would notice Jongin was hesitant about the whole thing.

“I don’t know, there’s something off” Jongin was frustrated “He is hiding something, but I don’t know if it’s directly related to the murder. In any case, he is still our suspect, alongside the maid. I’ll talk with them again”

The maid wasn’t guilty, Jongin was sure of it, but they couldn’t completely rule her out, just in case, at least until they had more solid evidence.

“You do that” Minseok nodded, returning to his work after that brief conversation.

Jongin went to his own desk, requesting a copy of the contents of Luhan’s phone. Fidgeting, he decided to go down to talk to the forensic doctor himself, they should already know something knew.

Baekhyun and his team were working, so Jongin waited a little until the doctor was free. Baekhyun looked up, smiling and waving when he saw Jongin. “Come here” he said, sitting in front of a big computer. “We have some things”

“Okay, I’m all ears”

“So, we haven’t finished the autopsy yet, but do you remember the sample of the coffee we took? Poisoned. It kills almost immediately, but I have some bad news.”

“What do you mean bad news?”

“This poison is rare, and expensive. Not easily found, but one really fancied by killers. If enough hours have passed, it leaves no trace in the body.”

“Do you think we arrived on time?”

“I hope so. We are already analysing everything, in cases of poisoning it’s important to be fast. Let’s wait to see if he still had traces in his system.”

“Alright… Thank you, Baekhyun”

“Ah, it’s nothing detective. I’ll send you the official autopsy report when we are finished.”

Jongin nodded, thanking him again, and went back to his floor, to his desk. Even if the body hadn’t traces of the poison, it was clear that he was poisoned. They still needed solid evidence to use it in a trial, but just the knowledge was enough for now.

What was Sehun hiding? He had to find out. There was not much evidence in the house. They had taken the fingerprints of the coffee machine, one pair corresponded to Luhan, that was already on the archive. There were another two sets: Sehun and the maid? They would have to check it, but it seemed likely.

For the moment, he had something missing in the puzzle. The phone’s photos were already in his computer, so he scrolled through them again, and there it was. The dog. There was a dog, why wasn’t it at the house? Sehun hadn’t mentioned it neither.

“Chanyeol” he said. Chanyeol had been filling their report, and looked up, looking excited. “Let’s go, we have to talk with them again”

Chanyeol nodded. “Alrighty!” he said, happy to abandon the paperwork for now “Which one first?”

“The maid. What’s her name?”

“Kim Yerim” Chanyeol said “I have her address and her phone, do you want to call her first?”

Jongin thought about it for a moment. “It is far from here?”

“Not really, we could even go walking”

“Then let’s not call her. She is still a suspect, I don’t want to give her time to prepare”

They ended up taking the car, just in case. The place was close, but you never knew when you could need it. The street was dark, looking dangerous, so the two detectives were a little tense, but they arrived to the door without problem. There was no doorbell, so they just knocked.

A little boy opened the door, squinting his eyes. “Who are you” he asked, a little wary.

“Oh, hi” Jongin said, smiling softly. He loved kids “My name is Kim Jongin, I’m looking for Kim Yerim, is she here?”

“Wait a moment” the kid said, and turned, yelling “YERIIIIII, THERE’S A MAN LOOKING FOR YOU”

They hear a sound of something falling to the floor, a curse, and then Yerim showed up. She was surprised to see Jongin and Chanyeol, but not so much. “Detective” she said, clearly calmed down since the morning.

“Can we go in? We need to ask you some questions” Jongin said, trying to not sound too scary.

Yerim looked at them, silent, which made Jongin raise an eyebrow. "Go play with your sister" she said to the kid, turning to the detectives. "Come in, please"

Jongin had been afraid of the girl not cooperating, but it appeared that wasn't going to be the case, even if she was clearly cautious of them.

"I suppose you come for... " Yerim said, guiding them to a tiny and uncomfortable looking living room. Shouts could be heard inside the house, a couple of kids or more. "This morning"

"That's correct" Jongin nodded "We have a couple of questions for you"

"Alright, go on"

Chanyeol asked her about her usual schedule, information they already had but now could contrast. After the basic questions in which she claimed again that the man was dead when she went into his home, Jongin spoke.

"Do you know Oh Sehun?" he asked. Yerim didn't answer for a second, then looked away briefly before looking at Jongin again.

"No, I don't know who he is" she said in the end. She was lying, why?

"Sehun was your employer's lover" Jongin added "The other man living at the house"

"Oh" she said, sounding a little surprised. It could he easily a fake surprise, of course. "Do you think he..." She asked, lowering her voice.

"That's confidential, I'm sorry" Jongin said "But it would help us if you knew something"

Yerim thought about it for a second. Again, she looked away before answering him. "I think they fought. Like, a lot. You can see it, not only when they broke things but... The clothes, the dishes, the house..." She stopped for a few seconds, probably thinking how to phrase everything correctly "They had a dog. Or well, the other one, Sehun? I think the dog was his. When they fought and Sehun went away for a couple days he always took the dog"

So, Jongin remembered that Sehun had been angry at Luhan, so he could have been away and the dog with him. Damn it, that was now a useless clue.

"Something else?" Jongin said after writing everything down.

Yerim shocked her head "Not that I can think of right now"

A kid yelled, another one started crying, and steps were heard before the door opened.

"Yeri" the kid of before said, stressed "Please come she is hurt"

Yerim sighed. "Would that be all, detectives?" She asked. When Chanyeol and Jongin confirmed it, she led them to the door before returning with the kid. "Good afternoon" she said, and closed the door.

"Okay, what new info do we have?" Chanyeol asked, both of them walking to the car.

"We need to corroborate what she said about the dog and the fight"

"If they fought, then Sehun wasn't at the house that morning" Chanyeol muttered.

"Exactly. If he wasn't at the house, then maybe he is not the culprit"

"But you said he was hiding something, right?"

"Yeah, but so is Yerim. What's wrong with all of them?" Jongin said frustrated.

He didn't know why, but the thought of Sehun not being the murderer relaxed him. The man, even if had tried to appear tough, had been clearly shaken and Jongin would like to think that it wasn't an act. He looked so vulnerable, Jongin had felt an indescribable need to protect him.

Suddenly, Chanyeol's words came to his head, but he ignored them. There was no way that he could even think about dating a suspect. No way. They should focus on the investigation, possible feelings put aside, but Chanyeol had planted the seed in his brain and it was true that Sehun was very handsome. Jongin hated his partner.

"We need to talk with Sehun" he finally said. Sehun was still the prime suspect of the case, and he was clearly hiding something. Jongin wasn't going to let himself be distracted just because the man was cute and handsome.

"Alrighty" Chanyeol said, smiling as always "Do we know where is he staying?"

"Fuck, no. I have his phone, let me call him"

'Please answer, don't be the murderer' was all Jongin could think. Fortunately, Sehun picked up almost immediately. Jongin quickly asked for his current address, not letting him time to react and hanged up promptly after it was given.

"Now we have it" he muttered.

The house wasn't so far away, so they only drove for a few minutes. This neighbourhood, compared to Yerim's, was actually pretty nice, nicer than Jongin’s even if the place didn’t scream ‘rich’ such as Luhan’s house had.

They rang the doorbell, and a guy shorter than them with messy short hair and curled lips opened the door. “Are you the detectives?” he asked, unimpressed.

“Yes” Chanyeol said, smiling nicely “Is Sehun here? We gave us this address”

The man pursed his lips, like he disagreed with Jongin and Chanyeol’s presence there, which maybe wasn’t so far from the truth. “Yes, he is here. Come in, but if you said something that upsets him, I’ll kick you out”

Jongin shared a look with Chanyeol, the man was feisty. They were just going to ask some harmless questions to Sehun so they shouldn’t worry, but Jongin would make sure to be extra careful anyway. His plan was to be on Sehun’s good side, try to pry information out of him, he couldn’t afford to upset him and have the man close up.

“Thank you” Jongin said, entering the flat. Sehun was in the living room, again a nice change from Yerim’s. The place was huge and with a really modern decoration.

“Detective Kim” Sehun said. He was drinking something, probably tea, looking at them. “And detective…?”

“Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol” his partner introduced himself. Sehun just nodded, turning to the other man.

“Jongdae, could you make some tea for the detectives?” he asked softly. His friend, who until that moment had been throwing daggers with his eyes to the detectives, immediately softened when he looked at Sehun.

“Of course, I’ll be right back” the friend, Jongdae, answered, disappearing into the kitchen.

After that, both detectives turned to Sehun, who was waiting expectantly. “Well? How can I help you?” he asked.

“We are trying to fill all the information” Chanyeol explained. He proceeded to ask Sehun about his schedules, the information making sense with that Yerim had told them.

“So, you don’t know the maid, right?” Jongin asked, just in case. Sehun shocked his head.

“Luhan didn’t want people to… to know that we were living together” he said, his lips forming a thin line at the memory.

“He didn’t want people to know he was with a man?” Jongin added. Sehun laughed.

“Oh, no, he didn’t care about that, but he was…” he stopped talking, like he was thinking what to say and what not “He was overprotective. He worried a lot”

“What would he worry about?” Chanyeol said, curious, just as Jongin.

“What wouldn’t he worry about?” Sehun scoffed “He was always worrying, you know.”

“We would need something more specific, Sehun” Jongin said. The man closed his mouth, a conflicted look in his face, like he wanted to say something but didn’t dare to. In that moment, a dog barked.

“Vivi” Sehun said, smiling almost immediately. His tough, serious face changed suddenly, glowing with a happy smile that reached his eyes. The white dog jumped to his lap, demanding Sehun to pet him, to which his owner complied.

“Is that your dog?” Jongin asked. He hadn’t forgotten about the conversation they were having, but maybe change subjects would be the best for the moment.

“Ah, yes. This is Vivi” Sehun said, his cheeks turning a little red, probably embarrassed for the cute behaviour he just had in front of the detectives.

“It’s a cute dog” Jongin said, smiling at it “Where was he this morning? Wasn’t he at your home?” he pretended to be curious about it, like the question just had popped his mind.

Sehun bite his lip for a second. “I… I didn’t sleep at our house last night, so I took Vivi with me. Luhan didn’t specially like him, so I always take him with me.”

“Always?” Jongin gushed, expecting Sehun to say more.

Sehun sighed, like he had just disclosed information he didn’t want to, once again. “Every time we fought”

“Was that often?” Chanyeol asked while Jongdae returned with the promised tea, leaving the cups on the table. He went to stand at the side after that, and Jongin didn’t know why but it made him nervous.

“More that I would like to” Sehun confessed “We are both very volatile so our fights could get ugly. Sometimes I needed a couple of days away from him, so I just went to my house with Vivi until we cooled down”

“So, you have your own house?” Jongin said, picking up that snip of information quickly.

“I- Yes, I do have a house” Sehun answered, a little irritated. Why didn’t he want the detectives to know that?

“And why are you staying at your friend’s house, then?” Chanyeol sounded really curious, not just interrogating him, and Jongin could relate. Why?

“My boyfriend is dead, and obviously you don’t believe it was natural causes or you wouldn’t be here. I didn’t feel safe at my house, and needed someone to be with me. Jongdae is a good friend, and I trust him, so I asked him if I could stay with him for the mean time”

Jongin nodded, it made perfect sense. He couldn’t blame Sehun for thinking Luhan’s death wasn’t precisely natural, because it was the truth.

“We would like it if you could show us your house, Sehun” Jongin said in the end. They could find something there. Some clue about the planning of the murder, or something else.

“Right now?” the man said, looking at Jongdae with a worried face.

“Yes, of course” Jongin said, getting up. They needed to go fast, he knew how people worked when they needed to clean a place, and if Sehun – and his friend – were involved in the murder, he didn’t want to give them the chance. “We can take my car”

“Alright, just…” Sehun sighed letting Vivi on the floor “Jongade please, take care of Vivi, I will be back soon I hope”

“Of course, Sehunnie” the friend answered, a worried look on his face “We will be here when you return”

They gave each other a quick hug before the detectives accompanied by Sehun left the flat. The man seemed nervous suddenly, and once again Jongin was sure that he was hiding something, maybe related to the murder or maybe related to Luhan. Something about what Sehun had said, of Luhan being overprotective, was fishy. He texted Yixing, his friend at intel, asking him to run a deeper than planned background check on Luhan. Something was off.

Sehun’s own flat wasn’t far, still in the same nice neighbourhood, so they didn’t have to take the car. The man fidgeted with his keys as they climbed the stairs, reaching the door. Jongin observed him take a deep sigh, fumble with the key again, and at last open the door.

Both detectives expected another clean tidy house like Luhan’s, or like Jongdae’s, and maybe this flat was clean and tidy, but it was impossible to know because right now it looked like a hurricane had passed by. It wasn’t that the place was messy, it looked like someone was looking for something and didn’t care about breaking anything to find it.

Sehun didn’t seem surprised, even if he sighed deeply.

“Care to explain?” Chanyeol asked after whistling at the mess “Is this why you didn’t want to come here?”

Sehun looked away. “I- I didn’t know it would be like this”

He wasn’t even bothering to make his lie believable, and he knew it, so Jongin decided to call him out. “Sehun, we’d like you to cooperate with us, so please don’t lie to us”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Alright, I swear that I didn’t know for sure it would be like this, but I suspected it was a possibility. I didn’t want to face this mess at the moment so I decided to go to my friend’s house directly”

“Why did you expect this?” Jongin asked, sensing that it had to do with whatever Sehun was trying to keep to himself.

Sehun stayed silent for a few moments before answering. “Luhan, he was a rich man. He had a lot of things that people wanted. I thought… maybe if they didn’t find what they wanted at his house, they would come to mine”

“Are you saying that he was killed because someone wanted a thing he possessed?” Jongin muttered.

“I’m not saying anything” Sehun said, suddenly tense, so Jongin knew there was some truth in his own statement “It was a possibility.”

“Were you always fearful of things like this dating Luhan?” Chanyeol intervened. He was always the friendly curious one, and usually better at making people talk about this kind of things, Jongin was used to it, so why was he suddenly upset that Chanyeol was trying to be friendly to Sehun?

“There was always a risk” Sehun said, suddenly looking down “But I didn’t live afraid, if that’s what you mean. As I said, Luhan was very overprotective”

“But now he is dead” Sehun looked up sharply, furrowing his brows at Jongin’s words. “So that protection he gave you is gone”

“I needed protection because of his affairs” Sehun spat, a little angry at Jongin’s words. “I don’t need protection if he is dead now”

“Oh, but you do” Jongin replied “That’s why you went to your friend, right? It’s not only the house, you are safer there”

“I think you may be overstepping here, detective” Sehun said, his poker face returning. Maybe Jongin had pushed too much “You can search the house if you want”

“It could be useful if you searched with us” Chanyeol asked him “To see if something is missing”

“I have nothing valuable” Sehun said, crossing his arms “Whatever they were looking for, it wasn’t here”

Sehun knew. Sehun didn’t only suspect why Luhan was killed, Sehun knew exactly why his lover had been killed, it was clear to Jongin. An object, right? Jongin was sure that Sehun knew what it was and where it was. So, maybe he wasn’t the killer after all, but if that was true, he was in danger, and suddenly that urge to protect him was there again.

They searched the house, and Jongin made a call so a team could return and recollect possible evidence.

Sehun was baffled by this, of course. “Wait, why?”

“You said it yourself, they could be looking for something, so they would be related to the murder. We need to find every piece of evidence” Chanyeol explained.

“Well, it’s not like I was going to be sleeping here anyway” Sehun accepted. Jongin felt sorry for him, he suddenly looked much more tired than before.

“Go rest with your friend” Jongin said “I will call you if we need you”

Sehun nodded, a little hesitantly, but he was clearly tired, so he just left, leaving the two detectives waiting for the team.

“So, what do you think?” Chanyeol asked, as always.

“We can’t completely rule him out as a suspect, but I don’t think he did it” Jongin answered, thinking deep about all their new information.

“Yeah, I don’t think he is the killer, but you were right, he is hiding something” Chanyeol added.

“We’d need confirmation from the intel team but my bet is that Luhan was involved in dangerous business” Jongin said, to which Chanyeol nodded. He had probably come to the same conclusion. “So, he is over protective of his boyfriend because his life is dangerous, and he has something valuable. Their rivals want it, Luhan hides it, baam, he is dead, and now they are looking for it.”

“This could mean that we won’t find the culprit, Jongin” Chanyeol said “If we are dealing with organized crime, we will find a scapegoat at most”

“Yeah, I know” Jongin sighed “This is frustrating. But… Sehun is in danger. I want to make sure at least that we close this enough to make him safe”

Chanyeol grinned at that. “Harbouring a little crush?” he teased.

“Please I’m not you, I don’t crush on every person that I see”

“Hey I don’t do that!” Chanyeol complained, pouting. “But it’d be okay, you know. If you liked Sehun a little bit… He is your type”

“What the fuck is my type, Park?” Jongin said, squinting his eyes.

“Bossy, bitchy expression, serious face? Come on” his partner laughed, making Jongin roll his eyes because damn. “I still remember when I tried to set you up with Baekhyun and the first thing you said was ‘he is too noisy’, that was funny”

“Yeah, you tried to set me up with a hetero guy, that was great work” Jongin deadpanned.

“Hey! He was clearly flirting! I thought he liked men, okay? I don’t have your weird gay radar I had to try, you were lonely. You ARE lonely”

“That’s it, this conversation is over” Jongin said, just as the team they had requested came in “Let’s focus on this”

They let the team work as they returned to the station. There, they filled all the paperwork and Jongin gave Minseok a brief summary of how it was going. The sergeant seemed troubled. “Park is right” he said “If we are dealing with organized crime this is going to be rough”

Jongin nodded, agreeing with them. “I know. Let us do whatever we can before closing the case, this could give us important leads for other cases. In fact, Junmyeon is overworking himself precisely with organised crime, right? He is following Wu’s gang”

Minseok nodded. “Yeah, we are going to send one undercover agent there, Huang Zitao, and Junmyeon is overviewing the whole operation”

“Then maybe we can find something useful. Let me continue with the investigation a little more” Jongin asked, to which Minseok agreed.

“Alright, but if you find nothing, I will close it and that’s it. I don’t want to endanger more agents”

“Thanks Sarge, I’ll do my best”

Jongin knew Minseok worried too much, but it was understandable. They had lost already a couple of colleagues because of cases involved with organized crime, it was not pretty. But precisely that made him worry about Sehun, if he was involved in this even if just as Luhan’s lover, his life was in danger.

Trying to get Sehun out of his head, Jongin realized that it was already pretty late. They weren’t going to have any updates until the next day, so it would be for the best if they went home.

“Alright, Park” he muttered to his partner “Let’s rest, we will continue tomorrow with this”

“Try to get some sleep” Chanyeol softly reminded him “I know how you can get with a new case, but resting is important, Jongin”

Jongin smiled, always touched by how his partner – his friend, worried about him. “I promise” he said “We are going to crack this case, and then we’ll go celebrate, right?”

Chanyeol laughed “Of course, as always”

Chanyeol gave Jongin a last hug – the man was clingy but Jongin appreciated it, and they both said goodbye, returning to their own homes.

Just as Chanyeol had predicted, Jongin didn’t get much sleep, all night thinking about the case, about the murder, about Luhan… About Sehun. Maybe Chanyeol was right, maybe Jongin did in fact have a type, but that didn’t matter. Jongin was sure that he would have thought Sehun was handsome even if he wasn’t his type.

It was not only that he was handsome, it was that he excluded an aura of innocence and needing of protection that attracted Jongin, he couldn’t help it. It bothered the detective to know that Sehun was hiding things, but why would he? Was he involved in bad business as Luhan? He seemed sure that he was in danger only because of his lover, so it was unlikely. Why, then?

Thinking about this, Jongin fell asleep. He dreamed about shadows, about red, about a light in the midst of the darkness. When he woke up, it was like he hadn’t dreamt at all.

The official autopsy report came. It was a close call, but there were still minimal traces of poison in the body, so they officially had the cause of death, even if it wasn’t very useful information now that Jongin was convinced Sehun was innocent.

Jongin assigned a couple of uniformed officers to Sehun, Joohyun and Seulgi, and another couple to Jongdae’s house, Lucas and Mark. They were all pretty good, he trusted them to do a good job, inform him if anything weird happened, and save Sehun if things went wrong. They had strict orders of going incognito and not letting their identities as cops be known, he wanted to avoid Sehun knowing he was being watched, even if he would probably suspect as much.

Yixing’s intel was the most useful, as always. Turned out, Luhan was indeed involved in dirty business, even if nothing could be proven, as always. Junmyeon’s team contributed with their own information as well, confirming that his dead had been the result of a tug war.

None of them mentioned any object, anything, so that remained a mystery. During four days, Jongin studied and investigated everything he could about the business Luhan was in, about the gangs he was involved with, everything.

Day five finally gave him some sort of answer. He and Chanyeol had been frequenting the last two nights all the bars and pubs that Luhan had been usually seen in – and they were a lot. They had entered the ‘Black Pearl’ that night, and the moment Chanyeol had let slip Luhan’s name, they had been brought to another room.

This new room was fancier than the main place, with red and black lights, with people making out on couches that cost more than Jongin’s entire house. Women and men without barely any clothes served drinks and let themselves be groped by the patrons, always smiling. Was this the place Luhan frequented?

They were led to one of the couches by two girls, and Jongin didn’t dare to say anything, this could lead them to somewhere at last. One of the girls climbed onto Chanyeol’s lap, while the other did the same with Jongin, making him well, a little uncomfortable.

She leaned to his ear, whispering. “She is not here”

Who was not here? “And where is she?” Jongin replied, pretending to know who they were talking about. The girl looked at him, unimpressed with the question.

“Do you think I would tell you? You are not the first coming looking for her. No one knows where she went”

Maybe she was referring to Luhan’s killers. To the ones that had practically destroyed Sehun’s apartment. This girl was trying to protect the other one, keeping people out of her tracks. Who was she to Luhan, if she was important after his death?

“It’s important that we find her” Jongin said, the girl scoffing.

“I told you already, you won’t find her, she knows how to hide.”

The girl had to be important, important to Luhan, right? Just like Sehun, that’s why they were after her. It was risky, but Jongin had a hunch. “Please, Sehun is safe already, help us do our work”

That seemed to work, because the girl stopped moving, looking at Jongin with a weird expression. “Sehun?”

“Lover boy” Jongin added, hoping that it was the right thing to say.

“How do you know him? How do you know his name? Not a lot of people do”

“I’m protecting him” Jongin said, not entirely a lie “After Luhan’s dead, they came after him, so I’m in charge of protecting him. I need to find her”

The girl was hesitant for a second, but she looked at least somewhat convinced. “Alright, follow me” she said, jumping off Jongin’s lap and tapping the shoulder of the other girl. She did the same, leaving a pretty flustered Chanyeol behind.

“Come on, Park” Jongin hissed “We are working”

Chanyeol laughed a little, composing himself as they followed the pair to yet another room. This one was more intimate, soft music playing, and Jongin didn’t have to guess what it was usually used for, which disgusted him a little. What was this place?

The girls looked at them, before the one that had been over Jongin spoke. “They know Sehun” she said, the other gasping. “They say they are protecting him”

“Yes” Jongin nodded “It’s our job, to protect them”

“Do you think we can trust them?” the second girl asked, distrustful.

“You could ask Sehun himself” Jongin offered, taking his phone out his pocket “He should probably be with Jongdae right now”

“If he is with Jongdae, then he is truly safe” the second girl said, biting his nail. “They look like they are telling the truth, Joy”

“Give us your number” the first one, Joy, said “We will give it to Victoria, and she can choose whether to contact you or not”

“We’ll take it” Jongin said, trying to appear thankful, which he was anyway. “Please I can’t stress this enough, and you already know it, she is danger. They are looking for it, Sehun’s house was already destroyed”

The second girl gasped. “Poor Sehun” she said, looking a little sad “But he is okay, right?”

“Probably playing with Vivi as we speak” Chanyeol said, smiling.

“Oh thank God” the girl smiled sweetly at that, and Joy snickered.

“Wendy, don’t be such a girl” Joy said rolling her eyes, and the other girl, Wendy, hit her arm. “You can leave now, unless you want to pay for our services. We could give you a discount”

Before Chanyeol could think with his dick, Jongin said “No, thank you. Here is my phone” he took a little target with only his name and phone and gave it to Joy “And thank you for helping us”

They said their goodbyes, leaving the place through a back door.

“So, what do you think?” Chanyeol asked, as always.

“We are getting close. This girl, Victoria, may know something else about the object, maybe even have it”

“Sehun also knows something” Chanyeol replied.

“Yes, but he isn’t willing to share that information. I still wonder why…”

“Should we tell him we met these girls?”

“Let’s wait to see if Victoria calls me, and then we’ll talk to him again”

Chanyeol nodded, agreeing with the plan. It seemed like they were getting somewhere at last. It was already late so they said their goodbyes and left to their homes. Jongin checked with the last report of the teams keeping watch over Sehun, and everything looked correct, but he couldn’t shake himself of a filling of worry, like something was going to happen soon. He hoped he was wrong.

Victoria actually called, two days after their encounter with Joy and Wendy. She said something along the lines of “Meet me at the ‘Black pearl’ tonight, search for Joy or Wendy again, I’ll see you there” and hanged up. Chanyeol was excited about the meeting, because it could mean a lot of good and new information, and Jongin was a little nervous as well. They couldn’t fuck up, because this could be their only chance, but as detectives they had been in situations like that a thousand times, so Jongin didn’t know why he was so nervous.

So, there they were, trying to find one of the two girls in the place, but it was being a difficult task. In the end, Wendy found them instead, leading again to another place. This time, they took the stairs, and instead of some shady room, they ended up in a place that looked like an office.

There, a woman was seated, looking classy and proud.

“Let us alone” the woman said, Wendy leaving promptly, a little too quickly. Then, she returned her attention to Jongin and Chanyeol. “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t know you, so I don’t trust you” she said, serious.

“We met Sehun already” Jongin said “You can ask him”

“Sehun is a baby that would trust anyone with a pretty face. How do you think he became involved with Luhan?” she answered, arching an eyebrow. “So you better start telling me the truth, or you won’t come out of here alive”

Jongin and Chanyeol shared a look, Chanyeol clearly nervous. “We are the detectives on the case” Jongin said, but Victoria didn’t look surprised, so maybe she was expecting it. “We don’t want to involve ourselves too much in this, to be honest but…”

“But Jongin here has a little crush on Sehun” Chanyeol grinned “So he wants to make sure he is safe”

“Hey, what are you saying?” Jongin complained, hitting Chanyeol. Victoria looked surprised now, so maybe it was a good thing, but Jongin could feel his ears turning red.

“Just the truth” Chanyeol replied. “We want to make sure no one else is going to die, that’s it. We are allies here”

“What do you know of what happened?” Victoria asked them. She was more receptive now, so maybe Chanyeol had helped, even if Jongin hated him now.

“We know Luhan was murdered because he had something valuable” Jongin started, trying to calm himself down “We don’t know what, but we do know that people believe that either you or Sehun have it”

“That’s correct” Victoria mussed “A couple of years ago Luhan won the “Red Dragon” in a bet. Don’t ask me what it is, because I don’t know, but I do know that Kris Wu was angry, believed the “Red Dragon” was his and no one else’s. He has been trying to get it back since then, but Luhan was adamant about not giving it. I’ve been doing my own research, and apparently Luhan drunkenly said that he had given the Red Dragon to his “sweetheart”, so Sehun and myself became targets”

“Were you Luhan’s sweetheart?” Jongin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Luhan had a lot of sweethearts” Victoria laughed “Sehun was his most important possession, and he protected him with everything he had. I was the one to who he came when he needed to let out his frustrations; he couldn’t hurt Sehun too much, or he would feel guilty, you know”

“Did he hit you?” Chanyeol almost growled, but Victoria only rolled his eyes.

“Hit me was the less he did, sweetie. People pay me for this, and I’m a grown woman capable of myself, I’m not looking for pity” she spat “I’m only saying that it was well known that he came to me often, so that’s why I became a target. Besides, I’ve always been more reachable than Sehun, so it was easier trying to intimidate or threaten me”

“This is fucked up” Chanyeol muttered, and Jongin agreed, but there was nothing they could do about it at that moment.

“So, when Luhan died, the little protection you had disappeared” Jongin guessed “That’s why it was impossible to find you”

Victoria nodded. “I’ve been actually near here, you know. Joy and Wendy keep me updated. People believe I’m in other country, probably, having fled… It’s what I should do”

“But do you have it?” Jongin asked “The Red Dragon?”

“If I had it I would have sold it to Wu centuries ago, you know. My loyalties don’t lie with any of them and I have certain sense of self-preservation” Victoria replied. “I don’t have it, no, and I don’t have the luxury of counting Kim Jongdae as my friend, so I had no protection.”

“They are trying to come after you both because Luhan said once that his “sweetheart” had it, uh?” Jongin said “So now they have killed Luhan, you have no protection so they are free to kill you if necessary to get it”

“That’s right” Victoria said “And even if Jongdae can shield Sehun, he is not safe. Wu is merciless, he will get what he wants, and I can assure you that I don’t have the fucking Red Dragon, so there’s only Sehun left”

The three of them got quiet for a moment. There was really nothing left to say, all the information settling in.

“Thank you for your collaboration, Victoria” Jongin said “We should head out, but you have my number if you need anything”

“This is the most you are going to see me trust a cop” Victoria replied “But I appreciate the offer. If you really worry about Sehun, get him to sell the damn thing. It would save our lifes”

After that, the detectives left the place. It was already night time, they should head home, but they were close to finish the work – not to solve the murder, it would probably be filed away under a “organised crime result” tag or something like that.

“Let’s go to Jongdae’s house” Jongin muttered.

Chanyeol yawned before answering “Alright, but let’s get some coffee first”

After he had bought the much needed coffee, they went to Jongdae’s house. Jongin had warned both of the teams that they were coming. When they finally arrived, Jongin noticed almost immediately something was off.

“Joohyun” he called “Has someone entered the house?”

“No that we have seen” she answered “We have been watching, but-“

She hadn’t even finished talking when a loud crash was heard from inside the house. “You wait outside” Jongin said “Something is happening, detective Park and me will go inside the house. I’ll call you if we need back up”

The door was closed, as expected, and it had a tight security, so Chanyeol broke the window – barely, actually – and they entered through the newly made hole as they could. The broken glass scratched their arms and legs, but they didn’t even notice it.

Inside the living room was Jongdae, laid down probably unconscious and with blood oozing from his head.

“Shit” Jongin cursed, turning to Chanyeol. “Stay here with him, make sure he is alive”

Inside the house more noise could be heard, things falling and breaking, and a shout of pain that sounded like Sehun. Jongin ran, opening every door that he could, until he found them in the main bedroom.

Sehun was on the floor, a wound in the head and blood coming out his leg. The other man didn’t notice that Jongin had saw him.

“Where is it?” the man was asking, practically growling “Tell me where is the Red Dragon”

“I don’t know” Sehun weakly replied. “I don’t know what it is, or where it is”

“You are lying” the man said “If you don’t tell me, I’ll kill you right now”

Sehun laughed, spitting on the floor. “Then kill me, end this suffering”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” the man yelled “Mayhap I should bring you to Wu, see what we can do with you, uh? Once Kim Jongdae is dead you have no one left.”

Before Sehun could answer, Jongin yelled. “Hands up!”, putting the barrel of his gun on the man’s head “You are under arrest, sir”

The man tried to turn, but Jongin was quick and he completely disarmed him, holding him to the ground. He called Joohyun in that moment. “I have an intruder” he said “Come here and take him to the station”

An ambulance approached just as Joohyun entered the room with a bang. “I’m so sorry, we didn’t see anyone coming” she said, frustrated.

“It’s okay” Jongin calmed her down “We avoided the worst”

Someone was taking care of Jongdae, and the man was already out of his sight, so Jongin turned to Sehun at last. The man was okay. A couple of wounds but neither looked serious. “Are you alright?” Jongin asked, as softly as he could.

Sehun nodded, a little shaken. “Yeah. Thank God you were here. Why were you here?”

“We were coming to ask you some questions, it was pure luck” Jongin answered, not mentioning the fact that four agents had been watching over them for the last days.

“Well, thank you anyway” Sehun seemed sincere. “What did you want to know?”

“Do you think now is the time?” Jongin joked.

“Well, I’m assuming the ambulance is for Jongdae, and I don’t have any serious wound so, why not?”

Jongin thought about it for a moment. He felt bad, but Sehun was vulnerable, which meant a bigger possibility of him talking.

“We talked with Victoria”

“Victoria?” Sehun said, clearly surprised “How did you even found her? I heard she disappeared after… Well, after Luhan’s death”

“Well, we found her, and had a little chat. She talked about you as well” Jongin added. Sehun kept silent, biting his lower lip, waiting for the detective to say something else. “She talked about Luhan and about their… relationship”

That made Sehun let out a bitter laugh. “Ah yes. The whore he went to when he became tired of me”

“Victoria said he went to her when he needed to vent out his frustrations, so he wouldn’t hit you” Jongin said, watching carefully Sehun’s reaction.

“So he wouldn’t hit me more, do you mean?” he spat. Just as Jongin suspected. “Our relationship was complicated, so when he couldn’t take it anymore, he left. In the end, I began leaving as well, when I needed a break”

“I’m sorry, Sehun” he said, really meaning it.

“I didn’t… I didn’t think I would be able to leave his side ever. I was too deep, he wouldn’t have let me” Sehun said, voice trembling. “But then, he died. And I felt sorry but also so fucking relieved. But of course this has not ended, of course his fucking legacy still haunts me”

“Why don’t you give them the Red Dragon?” Jongin asked, curious about Sehun reasons.

“So, you know about that as well, uh?” Sehun laughed a little “I can’t give something that I don’t have”

“Then… Victoria has it?” Jongin asked, confused. Had Victoria lied to them? It wouldn’t be that weird.

Sehun shook his head. “Nu-uh, neither of us have it”

So, they were just as they started, without knowing who had the fucking Red Dragon, and Sehun’s life still in danger. It was frustrating, but-

“I know who has it” Sehun interrupted Jongin trail of thoughts “It’s not Victoria nor me. It’s not Luhan ‘sweetheart’. That was something he said to keep people off track”

“Sehun, this is important” Jongin said “Your life is in danger, the life of the person that has this object is in danger. Who has it?”

Sehun bite his lip, thinking about it hard. “I will take you there”

Outside the room there was a couple of officers in the house. Chanyeol and Jongdae were nowhere to be seen, probably already at the hospital, so Jongin said goodbye to his colleagues, and both Sehun and him entered his car.

Sehun lead him through the streets, and soon they were in a familiar neighbourhood, knocking in a familiar door.

“What do you want?” Yerim answered. It was already very late; the kids of the other day were probably sleeping. “Detective Kim?”

Yerim invited them to come in, a little confused. Once they were both seated, Jongin said “Okay, someone explain something to me”

“Yeri” Sehun started “Our lifes are in danger, detective Kim is going to help us”

“Is he really?” Yerim asked, a little sceptical.

“I thought you didn’t even know each other” Jongin muttered. Of course that had been a lie as well.

“Yeri was very dear to both Luhan and me “ Sehun said, looking at least a little bit sorry “But it was dangerous if people knew that she was so involved with us, besides cleaning our house, so we pretended that we didn’t know each other”

“And what does she have to do with all of this?” Jongin asked, even if he knew what was coming.

“Yeri, do you remember the earring Luhan gifted you?” Sehun said, softly. Yerim nodded, getting his hair out of her face, and revealing an earring that went all over her ear.

“This one? You said it had a big emotional value so I wear it always”

Jongin laughed because of course the earring was a fucking golden dragon with some red stone as the eye. Of course the maid had the Red Dragon all along.

“Well, that wasn’t entirely true” Sehun said a little sheepish “It holds no emotional value whatsoever”

“Then why…?” Yerim looked confused, and Jongin couldn’t blame her.

“I would dare to say that earring is the most expensive piece of jewelry that exists” Jongin replied, watching Yerim face transforming into one of shock.

“Luhan gave it to you, precisely because if something happened to him, I would help you sell it, so you could provide for your brothers and sisters” Sehun explain, and oh. That explained a lot. “Turns out, he died because of it, so I couldn’t say something, couldn’t risk his murderers to know that you had it. They would have hurt you”

“I can’t sell it then?” Yerim said, and she sounded so sad, like she really needed the money.

“I have to take it” Jongin explained, apologetic “But, I think I can work out some sort of compensation for you, big enough for the trouble”

“Well” Yerim sighed “Until a minute ago this was just some worthless earring, so I won’t complain”

After that, they let her go back to bed, the earring already pocketed by Jongin.

“What are you going to do now?” Sehun asked, quietly. “Our lives are still in danger, even if you have the cause of it in your hands”

“I have an idea” Jongin said, smiling “This will be solved in a few days, believe me”

Sehun nodded “I don’t know why, but I believe you” he said, looking at Jongin in the eyes. The temptation of just closing the space between them and kissing Sehun was strong, but Jongin decided against it.

“Let me take you on a date” he said, suddenly, surprising both Sehun and himself.

“Have I heard you right?” Sehun asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes. In two days. I will pick you up and everything will be solved by then”

They were already at Jongdae’s house, so it was time for Jongin to leave. “Okay. I will be waiting for you, detective” Sehun smiled, and it melted Jongin’s heart.

During the next two days, Jongin worked non-stop through paper work so his plan would work, so he could give Sehun the good news, and when he got the confirmation that everything went right, he felt the happiest man in the world.

Jongin had a plan. He had the Red Dragon at last and had to somehow keep Sehun away from any danger. Sehun, Victoria, Yerim... All the people involved in Luhan's mess.

So, he called Yixing. "I need you to help me" he said.

"Official matters or unofficial?" Yixing said, always interested in anything that Jongin could offer him.

"Unofficial except if it goes well. Then you could even get a promotion"

"You always say that" Yixing snorted "And we never get any promotion"

"Well, we have to try anyway, right?" Jongin replied, smiling.

"Alright, I'm in. But you do the paperwork."

Like that, he got Yixing to help him, which meant that things would be easier. It took only thirty-seven hours to accomplish what Jongin wanted; Yixing was an expert in the deep web and the black market, so it was a fairly easy job. What would he without him?

After that, and two hours before his schedule date with Sehun, Jongin found himself in a meeting with Minseok, Yixing and Junmyeon. Both Minseok and Junmyeon seemed impressed by their work.

"This just makes our job much easier" Junmyeon muttered "Gives us a higher chance of getting in a good place for the mission"

"And wraps up the case of the murder" Minseok added "Putting three people out of danger. Good work"

Yixing, surprisingly, ended up being promoted this time – Jongin didn't, punished for not consulting with his superiors first before acting so recklessly –, and Jongin quickly got ready for his date.

“I can’t believe you could do this” Minseok was impressed “Keep working hard, detective, and enjoy your date today”

Turns out, the Red Dragon had been the perfect way to get Zitao in Kris Wu good side. He – Zitao – had “stolen” the earring, and tried to sell it, so when Wu confronted him personally about it, Zitao had sworn his loyalty to him; Wu, happy with his earring, had fallen to his act. Not only that, Zitao had been monetary compensated, money that went directly to Yerim and her family. All of that, in the span of two days.

“I can’t believe you pulled that off” Sehun said, impressed “Maybe I should have date a cop since the beginning, instead of starting on the wrong side of the law”

“Does that mean that you want to date me?” Jongin asked, suddenly a little shyly.

Sehun took him by the jacket, kissing him. It was their first kiss, and even if it was not perfect, it was sweet, deep and carried more emotions that Jongin thought he was capable of feeling.

“Does that answer your question, Detective?”

Jongin smiled. The case wasn’t closed at all, they were still a lot of things to do, and Sehun wasn’t completely safe, but for a moment, he felt happy, it was Sehun who made him feel like that, and judging by his smile, he felt the same way. Jongin couldn’t ask for nothing more.

(And their kiss had been magical, but it had been with Sehun already under him, both of them intertwined with the sheets, hearing him moaning his name, that Jongin realized Park Chanyeol was fucking right, and he did have a type, even if that type had become solely 'Oh Sehun' and nothing more)

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/sehunagenda) !!!


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